No Questions Asked
by eden among the stars
Summary: His red is too vivid for one person but there's two of him. It all got gray when victory came without giving the sense of winning. So what happens when Akashi with the rest of the GoM stop bringing out the color? Because shining in a gray world cannot beat the colors they stand for. Maybe she was content to let the red camouflage her until it turned gray. [Seijuro Akashi X OC]
1. PROLOGUE

_Is this the Seijuro Akashi we have always known?_

Their voices came from all around me. He heard them all but did not stop to explain or disagree.

 _We have always known?_ Have they really known him in the three years? Anyone would suggest asking Mido-chan about it as he has spent the most time with him. However, that isn't completely accurate even though it is the truth.

Because sometimes, spending time has nothing to do with knowing someone.

You could say the same thing about here – when it comes to me…. and my prince.

I don't call him my prince because he belongs to me – he does not. I do so because he _is_ the prince I have. A short flashback may help to better understand the case in point.

* * *

It was a cool night that did not allow me to see much. Not that it mattered because my hand remained nestled in my father's. I don't have to remember just how safe or nice it felt when it happened.

The car came out of nowhere.

Truly, it came out of nowhere as even I could tell that it did not have the intent to kill but sadly, the potential was very real. The safe feeling in my father's hold disappeared the moment the car came to exist for me and I felt the shock through my arm.

My father was pulling me out of the way. My five year old body swung easily like I weighed nothing. The moment of impact was absorbed completely by my father and the chilly air turned the warm liquid into something icy on my cheek.

The moonlight makes the red look black. But my mind was quick to imagine the red as I always could.

The car that had come out of nowhere had tried to avoid…. _it_ and had swerved fast.

Or maybe, as I believe, it must have been to show me that red.

The pitch dark night had lit up, just as my life had- even though I couldn't recognize it in that moment. I was yet to fall from my swing which is the second it took for me to catch that red. His wide red eyes looked at me as his matching red hair did nothing to hide their intensity.

There he was - behind that window and looking at me while I looked back.

Oh how sadly the moonlight failed to turn his red into black. The failure would really change everything for me as I closed my eyes. The thud at the back of my head was a pavement I couldn't make out then. Still, as I closed my eyes, I knew that the moonlight had failed- so had the darkness and the night.

And he…. had emerged victorious.

He won because he erased the black of the blood around me and replaced it with his red. He won because that red is the only one. That red is absolute – no questions asked.


	2. 1 - Red

**Chapter 1 - Red**

* * *

Now as he walks towards me from yet another victory, I see a different kind of red. Just like the car from that night, he has no intent to come to me – I'm just in his way. I don't have to stop or turn away - he'll simply walk past me. I have never said a word to this prince of mine but I have remained a part of his world.

My prince is so much better than the ones that all the fairy tales speak of- primarily because he is real and he exists.

The snowy white horse he rides every morning is real. His eyes that fall upon the morning flowers and smile are real. That smile is only for my eyes though - not because it is directed towards me but because he doesn't let anyone see it and I'm in hiding.

For how long have we been playing this game of hide and seek? I suppose it is from the very beginning – my beginning at least as the red that lit up in the darkness on that night is really the day my life began.

Every morning he would make a basket and not stop to watch it go in. Instead, they would seek the immediate admiration of yet another woman who possessed that red. _Her_ red was a glow that radiated a kind of eternal warmth. She would watch him with those eyes and he would give her the best show. Their private little universe was one I managed to penetrate. Not because I could, but because he let me.

The game where I'd do my best to hide and he would simply look. Those eyes that never had to search or try to look would always find me - and I would be caught. Except that his burning red eyes that are all intense are also capable of kindness and warmth, just like the woman he loves. He always knew that I was in their personal world but never called me out.

Because kindness is not always in extending a hand. It is also in never pointing a finger and simply, letting it be.

* * *

"Is this going to be okay?" Momoi's voice was full of concern as she stood beside the door outside the gym. They were eavesdroppers but it would not matter much if they got caught. It was the GoM's personal farewell party where the captain (henceforth the ex-captain) officially declared them rivals.

"It will be Suki-chan! Though I really am sorry that you're not going to be able to go to the same high school as Kuroko-kun." Tsubaki's words were full of comfort for her dear friend.

"Yes.. But I do get your point. I can't leave Dai-.. no.. Aomine-kun alone."

"None of that Suki-chan.. It isn't time to give up on Mine-chan yet. This distance is only temporary and nothing more than an obstacle. After all, they're amazing."

Even so, Momoi couldn't bring herself to continue calling the blue haired boy she had grown up with by the same name she had been using all along. He had changed too much into something she couldn't recognize.

"I hope so Tsu-chan. Have you spoken to Tetsu-kun?"

"Yes. He took up my suggestion to join Seirin High. Since the others have chosen all the other power houses, it seems like the right thing to do."

"Its amazing how much work you put into this Tsu-chan…" Momoi was the only one who knew and would accept Tsubaki for what she was – the manager of the Teiko Basketball Team, without ever _being_ one of course.

Her work would remain in the shadows better than Kuroko's plays. Not that anyone could complain about that- including Tsubaki herself. It was just what the team had needed and also, everything the team that was no more would need.

"Mido-chan should pick Shutoku!" Tsubaki exclaimed to Momoi as she burst through the door.

"Shutoku?"

"Yes! Shutoku is the school of veterans you see. Mido-chan works hard so it will be more than just perfect."

Momoi ran a hand through her pink hair while examining the papers of their research. Two months remained until their graduation but they had begun their research the day their team had achieved the three-peat and Kuroko had quit the team.

Neither event seemed to have any significance for the rest of the team.

"Uh.. Tsu-chan, Touou Gakuen is simply going to be a team full of athletes from all over. How will Aomine-kun get any better here?"

"It isn't like that Suki-chan.. No matter what atmosphere we put Mine-chan in, he'll never get better just from his teammates. That needs to come from a team he faces so really, we have less choice." Tsubaki's lecture-mode softened Momoi's expression of concern.

"Hmm.. That really makes sense. We are low on options here." At this Momoi held up a copy of Aomine's transcripts and the atmosphere immediately turned into a dark one.

"That idiot. He's failing so hard in everything that the teachers seem tempted to pass him for all the talent he possesses in failing! Tsu-chan look at this! He's even failed gym class! How is that even possible?!"

"Uhh.. Mine-chan fell asleep as it was after lunch and skipped the exam.."

Thus the two girls concluded that Touou was not a pick – it was more of a last resort.

"So Ki-chan will be going to Kaijo, Mukkun to Yosen.. It has a nice ring to it right? Ki-chan of Kaijo High!" Tsubaki would remain the only one to ever enjoy Momoi's strange sense of humor.

"…. and Rakuzan High for Akashi-kun." She completed the sentence in a low voice as if to complete the discussion but wishing she didn't have to bring it up.

But Tsubaki remained unruffled by her words as her smile didn't falter at all.

"That is one where we never had to make the pick Suki-chan.. It was obvious and decided for Akashi-san to enter the school of the Emperors."

"….. Yes." Momoi failed to mimic the obviousness as Tsubaki could. Because her one dear friend hadn't just accepted Akashi's choice of high school with obviousness - she had set her own ambition to match his with the same.

While Momoi knew that their research would help the ones who she acknowledged as friends, it was still Tsubaki's idea to manipulate the team into picking certain high schools. She did not know why but helped anyway because she knew the Tsubaki as only a girl could.

A woman's intuition. She knew that while the GoM made it look like their bond was a thing of the past and claimed that bond had never existed in the first place, the case did not end there. And if anyone could save anything, it couldn't be ones who were a part of it – not even Kuroko as if he stood alone, he needed to stand first and that required strength. The strength had to come from someplace and it just happened that the red head was the source.

"I'm going to follow him to Rakuzan."

Her clear voice had made that simple statement. With it the girl, Tsubaki Akahana with her red eyes and red hair - began a new chapter for everyone.

* * *

 **A/N** : _Hello! This fic is for Akashi but it is going to cover almost all the characters of the anime. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think! :)_


	3. 2 - A Good Eye

**Chapter 2 : A Good Eye**

* * *

His walk is different this time. His red is one that I had only seen flashes of. The first flash had been on a snowy day….

The snow that turned everything white and cold seemed decisive. Nature was screaming that it was going to win this time. Her eternal warmth, the glow she radiated continually is incomparable to anything else. No metaphor could describe the love or safety she nestled our prince with – he was ours as in our universe, only the three of us existed. The three of us in our red were the only ones allowed.

The falling snow fell endlessly until we had to really believe that she was.. disappearing. So magnanimous and whole was the significance of her red that it reached every corner of our universe – which included me. It is why I can tell that I came to know her in the years I spent with her.

After the incident (I refuse to call it an accident as the day that my life began cannot be referred to as so), the Akashi family had allowed us to live on their estate as the injury from the night had resulted in my father requiring medically advised rest which in turn had cost him his job. So I really was one of them as I watched and grew up by their side.

The woman's red is one of those rare things that leaves an impact – not a mark that could as well turn into a scar but just this impact that would never fade. So when the snow on that day tried to freeze her warmth, I saw a flash of his red like never before. It lasted for a brief moment but I knew it took birth from his stone-cold style of mourning for her.

He played the violin more beautifully than ever. The next day he made all the shots in the game he played by himself. He brushed Yukimaru to a perfection he had never desired before.

But he did forget to look at the new batch of flowers I had planted to convey my regards – it was the only way I could reach him. Or so I had hoped.

The shiragiku* did not reach his eyes.

So he is definitely different now. His eyes don't simply reflect the change, the physical change in color makes it all the more clearer. I have never spoken to him because there was no need to. But now the flash that I had seen then has taken over and he is no longer the boy I shared that world with. I knew that her last smile, while more beautiful even in death was a sad one as she was against leaving too soon.

I never would have spoken to my prince – it was a mute arrangement but now that things really have changed.. In my third year of Junior High, it has been a decade and I have to speak.

"Excellent match, Akashi-san."

He passed by without so much as a glance. We're still playing.

* * *

 **Week 1 – First Year – Teiko Junior High School**

Tsubaki Akahana did not believe in the need to be weird in order to strike as out of the ordinary. In fact, more than anything, she wanted to blend in and not stand out at all. She firmly believed in the saying that the nail that sticks out got hit by the hammer. Yet, remaining ordinary was a hard task with her special ability to fall asleep in the noisiest of places. The quirk had a worse element to it – she could not _choose_ the moment to use this ability.

So she remained sound asleep as the rest of the class finished Homeroom and headed out for the weekend. New friendships were being formed all around her sleeping form which meant that people did not trust each other enough to have set into the mode of whispering. This meant that everybody was testing the waters by talking to everybody and those who did not, chose to ignore even the sleeping girl while finishing the cleaning duties.

So awkward was the boy with his light blue hair that he let the girl sleep even though he had a perfectly good reason to wake her up and strike a conversation with her. Because she had to clean the room with him and Tsubaki was obviously in another world.

His silence was an effort to let her continue her slumber but it was also just the way he functioned. The silence was loud enough for Tsubaki to jerk awake.

"Where am I?!" Her red hair flew around her as she looked everywhere in shock.

"Um.. Hello Akahana-san. You fell asleep during class and I'm sorry if the noise I made woke you. I did try to keep the noise to a minimum."

"What? Oh no Kuroko-kun. Please don't blame yourself. You were extremely quiet which is why I woke up. You see I have this weird quality where noisy places put me to sleep and quiet places wake me up." She yawned at the end of each sentence but showed none of the awkwardness that should have been present. She spoke almost like they had known each other well.

"Sorry, how is it that you know my name?"

"Your name? Oh I know everyone's name in class but you were the hardest to place. This is the first time I'm seeing you which is why I figured you're Kuroko-kun. Is this your first day? If it is so then I must be the first person you're talking to so.. Nice to meet you Kuroko-kun!"

"Um.. Akahana-san, this isn't my first day. My seat is right next to yours."

Tsubaki's overly delighted smile took seconds to vanish. The moment it completely wiped itself off had Tsubaki jump out of her seat and bow furiously.

"I'm so sorry Kuroko-kun! That's the most insensitive thing I have ever said to anyone. I can't believe I haven't noticed you at all!"

Her eyes fell on the cleaning cloth in his hand which reminded of yet another detail and bow once more – this time with new vigor. Kuroko was shocked at the amount of energy she could expend each time she bent in apology.

"I am such an idiot! My actions have just matched my words. Please allow me to apologize and make it up to you Kuroko-kun! I'll do the cleaning by myself all year if that'll-"

"No need for all that Akahana-san. Just like your sleeping thing, its just how I am. I have almost no presence anywhere I go. It isn't your fault and I didn't mind doing the cleaning. You really do look like you needed the sleep."

Tsubaki looked doubtful but Kuroko's expressionless eyes had a gentle, amiable touch in them that she chose to believe in and smiled warmly.

"Alright, Kuroko-kun. I'm sorry for this time but you have to let me make up for it the next time. As for the not noticing you part, presence or no presence – everyone needs to be noticed! Therefore, I shall notice you every day from now on! Scratch my apology and accept my invitation to be friends instead. Please!"

Shocked, but also awed by her words, Kuroko shook her hand. He found it hard to believe even as she walked by his side while prodding him on to tell him about himself. He hadn't expected to make a friend this easily – especially this early on.

He was in a bind about telling her about himself. He did not know where to start at all.

"Then start with basketball – I saw you glance longer towards that court more than anything else. While we're at it lets get a vanilla milkshake from a place that makes the best ones."

Kuroko followed Tsubaki even though the idea of vanilla milkshake was almost too girly for a pick. It was because he had come to instantly trust her judgment – she seemed to have a terrific eye that caught a lot.

* * *

 **Shiragiku : Flower depicting mourning, commonly used in funerals**

 **A/N ** : _So I'll make this clear that Tsubaki was not the manager of Teiko's basketball team. But she was involved, parts of which will be coming up in the upcoming chapters. Read and let me know what you think! :)_


	4. 3 - Love

**Chapter 3 - Love**

* * *

Rakuzan High. The school of Emperors is uncomfortable with being a reserved institution for royalty only. Therefore, the school offers no less than four scholarships every year. Students from all over the country write the admission test and of course, only the best of them make it to the top four.

I am not one of them.

If Rakuzan High wanted to provide equal opportunities to all, the number of scholarships should have been a little more than the measly four, right?

How else is a student supposed to find what everyone needs to survive?

Friendship. Company. All of that stuff.

But no. Rakuzan High offers the opportunity to only four students in a year who are divided into the four different sections based on their ranks. And that is that.

The opportunity given is an experience to study and just that. There is no question of really making many high school memories.

For example, what common ground do I find among girls who are.. I'll just say it's a whole different world. Of course they aren't bad. Of course they aren't necessarily unwelcoming. And of course I can smile at them and most often have them smile back at least out of courtesy.

But that doesn't count as the real thing, does it?

I am not the girl who is driven to one goal that is to excel in just one thing. My middle school years have been most memorable and satisfactory. I'd much rather have times like that than this kind of elite educational experience.

What can I say? Everyone isn't built to work towards excellence. I am not settling for mediocre because that is all I can or want to achieve. I'm saying that to me, mediocre isn't bad.

But here I am. I am Tsubaki Akahana of class 1-A in Rakuzan High. I even got placed in the best section.

Because I am the only one to accept the scholarship of all the ones who took the exam. Maybe I was too hasty and didn't think things through.

The thoughts are the same as every morning as I wait in my designated seat for his arrival.

"Good morning Akashi-san."

I wish him as I do every morning since the beginning of high school. But of course he is still playing as he moves without acknowledging me.

I cannot call him rude for ignoring me. It can't be rude because he is yet to make me exist. And giving up is not even an option.

So as I go through every day with every thing all by myself, I think if I did make the right call. There isn't anyone to come to school with or walk back – nobody walks. And those who do (I've seen a few) would rather not walk with me as that would make it seem like they cannot afford it and here, everyone can afford it.

Did I make the right choice?

I look for the logical answer and let it compete with my irrational self to see which one dominated best to have come to this decision.

If I had a choice like that to make, would I pick Shutoku over Rakuzan? The thought of Mido-chan makes my heart ache. I wonder if he's doing alright. He must be, because there isn't a way his choice of school can go wrong.

Shutoku was an option. But was it the one I'd make? I cannot stop asking it over and over again.

 _If I had to do it again, I'd pick Rakuzan each time over._

I do not belong in Rakuzan's world of emperors. But I do belong in his world. Therefore, this is mine too.

* * *

 **Last Week – Third Year – Teiko Junior High School**

"I was really beginning to think you'd found a way to reach the gods to gain actual invisibility to be able to play basketball better than you do. But here you are."

Kuroko turned to Tsubaki who smiled as she always did. When he had first met her he remembered the thing that most attracted his eye. She was the girl with the shock of red hair with matching eyes. It wasn't that Kuroko had never seen anyone with red hair before. It was the eerie feeling that Kuroko knew only he would get. Because it wasn't something anyone could notice.

Tsubaki's hair hung loose when he had first met her. The waist length red hair was a lot to take in as it danced around her with every move she made. Kuroko knew it would be an easy observation to say that the dance had the power to enchant people. But the more he watched her, the more Kuroko realized that her hair had none of that spell the color red promised. He knew people would rarely be able to notice and admit to this fact. Granted, the girl had red hair and red eyes but he would not quite call her fire-kissed.

He always knew that Tsubaki would not burn.

"Akahana-san." His acknowledgement made Tsubaki's smile fade a little but not completely. That too, was something Tsubaki did at all times.

"It has been three years Kuroko-kun. You still succeed in giving off the distant feeling."

"Oh? It isn't my intention to distance you Akahana-san. I'm sorry I cannot make you feel more welcome… after everything you have done for me."

"Done for you? I'd rather you say everything we've been through. That's what friends would say to each other."

"Is that so? Then that is what I'll say if I could say it again. We are friends after all."

"That's nice to hear. After all, I was scared that you were leaving me behind as well… I know it turned bad.. I couldn't have stopped it but I could have tried harder… at least for your sak-" Her dejected voice made Kuroko step towards her. He placed his hand above her head to make her look up without talking.

"Neither of us could stop it. Akashi-kun's argument made sense too. I only raised my voice when it was my friend." Kuroko had come to accept that much – he was on two boats at the same time. The least he could do was jump off and let the other two boats survive the storm.

But Tsubaki disagreed.

"It is natural for a human being to care more, worry more and simply _be_ more when it comes to someone familiar. More is a word associated with our associations in life. There isn't a thing wrong in that. Point is, what are you going to do about it? Now that your 'more' has made you see something you weren't able to before, what will you do?"

Her eyes implored the boy's usual blank. They never lost his gaze as he tried to search the answer within himself. What could he do? His words would never be more than ideals that were the stuff of a Utopian world unless he could prove it by winning. How does a shadow outshine the light?

It wasn't possible.

"Nothing… Akahana-san.. I can do nothing because not only do I lack the strength, even if I did have it I wouldn't know how to go about it. But even so, I cannot accept these ideas for myself or let them be this way. I just… I'm more lost than ever."

"Just when you think you're lost is when you come up with your own way home. If you want to do it, you can. If you don't want to do it, that's fine too. But this way of sitting alone and remaining still is the worst. We can't stop moving, can we Kuroko-kun?"

Kuroko worried about his position. He wasn't strong enough to simply stand on the two boats and sink both of them. But if he did nothing, that would do harm in its own way.

"Even if I want to.. How can I? I cannot follow Aomine-kun when he won't even talk to me. Nor can I do the same with anyone else if I want to find my own meaning of victory.. But most of all, it is Akashi-kun who seems far too gone. Even if I do manage to-"

"Not like that Kuroko-kun. You're thinking too hard by taking it all on yourself. Nobody said you have to do it all alone. It has already been decided that Suki-chan will go to the same school as Aomine-kun. He's in good hands and Touou, has gained a prodigy along with a mastermind. Akashi-kun's condition may be too much for anyone to solve or handle. He isn't a puzzle or a case. So.. I suggest you take that off your mind as well. You should concentrate on your own mission. It isn't your job to help everyone, nor does anyone except you to. They have to get there on their own."

The boy stared at Tsubaki's calm and well-thought approach to what he considered a huge impossible problem. Apparently, it wasn't.

"I'm sorry if I make it seem real easy. You have to find out what you want. Suki-chan has to deal with Mine-chan. The others' actions will also depend on the variations and development. Also, there is the obvious chance of failure."

Thus Tsubaki translated it all back to impossible again. But Kuroko knew it wasn't as simple when it came to [Name]. It was her way of encouragement – one that just happened to never fail.

"Maybe. But I can't give up without trying."

She smiled as her friend had caught on well.

"Will Akahana-san be attending school with Midorima-san?"

He knew she would head where the green haired boy would decide to go – it was an obvious decision.

"Hmm? No! I can't do that now, can I? Mido-chan doesn't need me as much as he wants me with him. The main reason I came today is to tell you that I've been offered the scholarship from Rakuzan. The top rankers chose other schools and I got it!"

Kuroko knew. Of course he knew she had been studying hard. It was the reason why they hadn't been classmates after the first year. Her hard work had put her into the same class as the other high scorers. Some of them being Satsuki Momoi, Shintaro Midorima and of course, Seijuro Akashi. So the fact that she had still failed to secure the rank required for a Rakuzan scholarship was common knowledge since the day the results had been put up. Yet, she had made it.

As happy as he felt for her success, he paled from the realization. The sight of Tsubaki's glowing face only made him wonder even harder.

It was what she had worked for but is it what she must be choosing?

Shintaro Midorima's stoic attitude would drop for Tsubaki when someone asked him if she would be attending high school with him. His face would definitely show the sign of him wanting her to make that choice.

Yet, she was choosing Rakuzan. She was going to follow Akashi.

"Is that so?" Kuroko barely managed to let out the words.

"Yes! So lets go! I owe you a treat for this!"

It wasn't strange for them to go for a vanilla milkshake on their first and last meeting in their middle school. Even so, as Kuroko walked by Tsubaki, he noticed two things.

Tsubaki Akahana, Kuroko had long concluded but observed once more, was one of the few people who remained the same. She bubbled with the same excitement that raised his own enthusiasm to converse with her. She spoke with the same warmth that brought out a gentle smile in him. She looked at him with the same awe that never made him conscious but instead, evoked a strange sense of accomplishment and made him say more and more.

Kuroko being Kuroko knew this wasn't normal. Such an effect couldn't work at all times. He had wondered if he was the only one – if that was so then he would have called it love. But it was the same with everyone. Therefore, it _was_ love.

Tsubaki was a kind of raw example of how love isn't cut into pieces and tossed to a few select people. Love is no pie in a family dinner. It was something else and she exhibited it in the rarest of ways. Even Kuroko hadn't figured out what that kind of love could be called.

So as he walked beside her in his 'absence' to the rest of the world, he felt present in the most wonderful way. And he knew it wasn't the love that the world would want it to be. It was simply her. She had done it on the first day and she was doing it now – as she would continue to.

Nothing had changed.

The second thing was an ambiguity to his first observation.

In the three years, she had grown into something no one could have foreseen. Not because it was improbable but because it was impossible. It was impossible because such a thing could not exist.

Still, she walked by him to treat him for making it into Rakuzan. Because she was going to follow the scarlet prince.

What reason could she have to do so?

Because Kuroko knew it was not love.

* * *

 _ **A/N : So I threw that out of the bucket.. Kuroko knows it isn't love. If you really thought that I was going to make it that cliched then I'm a little sad. While Akashi remains unexplored, what she has for the rest of the miracles is definitely love. Next up is a chapter in Rakuzan. I love Mibuchi for all of him. He is so obviously gay but when has it ever been as simple as to hit on someone attainable? ;)**_

 _ **Read and review! :)**_


	5. 4 - Racing Ahead

**Chapter 4 - Racing Ahead**

* * *

 _Everyone knows about the three-peat. Everyone knows about the generation of miracles. Everyone knows nothing more than this when it comes to Teiko._

 _While seeming like we know, we never can._

 _That is how my story in the same middle school runs. Nobody knows or has to know. But I will because in all that happened and ended badly, I have been more than fortunate._

 _Because I was a part of it even when I was not. I never knew in the beginning. I didn't start out this way. Even though he has always been my prince, I did not follow him into middle school. That was purely an act of coincidence I have named fate._

 _He was not the first face I saw. I only saw him when I went to watch my newest friend play. I went to cheer for the pale, invisible boy who wanted to play because he loved the game and I saw the red._

 _So I stood and watched and realized that I had come to the right place. All that was left was to make it my own._

 _Staying with Kuroko-kun isn't what made me observant. Observing from afar is what I have been doing all my life. I have no way to make it sound less creepy because no matter what or how it is put, it is creepy to stare at people._

 _So I accepted that me, while not being weird am a creep. With that out of the way, I began to watch him and his world of red._

 _It was him – the green I saw as he remained constant through everything. So I concluded that he is one of those people – who keeps on going without much regard to those who started the journey with him._

 _And then there was the blue – the one who simply… glowed. He glowed out of the intensity. It was an intensity that is rarely ever seen – let alone in a basketball rookie of his age. The intensity of his love for the game screamed with his every movement and so I concluded him to be of the intense kind – who gets so focused that when he gets going, everything else disappears._

 _While being busy with the two, the purple took a step and I had to obviously crane my neck to really look at him. He was so tall that I saw dominance like never before. So therefore, he was the kind who is so dominant that when he moves, the existence of those around him does not matter to him._

 _So I watched the three of them who were going to be closer than anyone else to the one who held my keenest interest. They were all different but the thing similar was their ability to stand above, to move past and leave everyone else behind. To be unbothered or run them out or cancel their existence, in the end they would stand alone._

 _That is what the result will be, even when they take their own paths to get anywhere._

 _Just when I thought I was done observing them, the world of red I was dissolving in did something peculiar._

 _Because that is when I began to see colors - and they weren't red._

* * *

 **Fifth Week – First Year – Teiko Junior High School**

"Everyone left an hour ago." Tsubaki commented as Midorima picked up a ball to make another shot.

He turned to see the person who spoke to him and noticed her warm smile before anything. Friendliness was not his strong point. He did not count on it to be nice to the girl who had spoken to him out of nowhere.

"I'm aware."

She waited for him to say more but the boy only pushed his glasses up and moved to make his shot.

"That's why! You should head home for now Mido-chan!"

The name stung Midorima like an arrow and the twitch in his eyebrow wasn't concealed even by a bit.

"Shut up and leave right away. It isn't very decorous for someone to get involved in other people's business."

"I wish it were that simple. But seeing that you've already been practicing for hours and intend to push more, it'll affect your speed in tomorrow's match where your strength will be needed. It won't be funny if you can't make your threes for the team Mido-chan."

"Like I said, stop talking nonsense. Its distracting and annoying."

"I'm not annoying Mido-chan." He heard her smile with her words.

"Again with the name!"

But Tsubaki brushed off the hostility like nothing at all and simply walked towards the green haired boy.

"Forget the name for now. I'm talking about the game here!" She stuck a notice that was meant to be posted the following morning outside the gymnasium.

"Surprise match?!"

"Yes. Its _meant_ to be a surprise but everyone knows about it as it's a long tradition in this school. Except for you, Mido-chan because you never pay attention to trivia. Except for this piece of trivia which happens to be true and will include you."

"And your reason to come inform me would be?"

His suspicious tone only made her smile harder as she had expected that much resistance from the person she was trying to befriend.

"My reason? If I'm supposed to come up with one then it would be… I don't want my friend to come off as unreliable when his team counts on his talent to win."

Midorima stared at the girl who was racing far too ahead by herself.

"Is that something you can decide by yourself?"

He questioned the friendship she had carelessly assumed between them.

"Oh? If that's how it is then…. Will you please be friends with me, Mido-chan?"

Her victorious smile did not win the handshake from the green haired boy as he merely walked past her.

* * *

~After the match~

Midorima walked out of the locker room to find Tsubaki waiting by the door for him.

"Mido-chan! I don't think you noticed but I watched the whole match! And my, my. What a talent you have.."

Her appreciative words did nothing to stop him and he paid little mind to them. But there came a moment when the excitement in her voice was replaced by a milder tone that was far lower and, as he noticed was much sweeter.

"It's a shame that you turn away after making your shot Mido-chan. Because it is so beautiful in its perfection that I can't take my eyes of it. It is the most captivating sight that could exist."

He turned to face her serious face when the door opened to interrupt them.

"Eh? Tsu-chin?"

"What are you doing out here, Akahana?"

Murasakibara and Aomine looked at her with questioning eyes. Midorima realized she was already acquainted with his teammates. He registered only her last name into his mind – it almost happened on its own accord.

"I came here to congratulate everyone! It seems the first years never win this traditional game. Also, Mura-chan, you can't escape home early today even if there's no practice after school. There is no practice because the seniors will be treating you for the win. It wasn't informed because nobody expected you to win."

"Oh? Food? Then I will be staying after all."

"Yeah, of course! Food and getting to talk to all the players at once. I can totally meet all of them and mark the strongest ones, right?"

Tsubaki nodded, enthused with the two of them. The three then looked at Midorima who hadn't said anything at all.

" _Of course_ Mido-chan won't miss it when he is expected to be there."

It seemed as if she had spoken for him.

"Of course."

Once again, she extended her hand with the same hopeful glint in her eye. Knowing that the other two had given in way too easily was no fact to coax him into saying yes. While not trying to play it hard to get, Midorima was doing exactly that.

"Mido-chan, one day we shall be friends. And when that day comes, it shall begin what's going to last forever!"

He shook his head and felt the same thing that he had felt the day before. The girl was certainly racing far too ahead.

 _"If I don't race ahead, how am I supposed to catch up with any of you? I can't meet any of you if I don't get ahead of myself. And if I don't, you'll all be alone when you finish, right?"_

* * *

 **A/N : Hello! This is a short chapter but the next one definitely makes up for it. From the next chapter we move to Rakazan High ;)**

 **Read and review. Don't be a tease.. What can I say, I'm not the type :D**


	6. 5 - Always

**Chapter 5 - Always**

* * *

Seijuro Akashi didn't conform to the usual norms of a first year high school student.

"Sei-chan _is_ unusual in so many ways, after all."

His teammate Reo Mibuchi observed to himself. He wouldn't say it out loud. He turned to the footsteps behind him to find Tsubaki.

He recalled their first encounter at the train station.

* * *

Mibuchi looked around the station he hadn't ever been to. Just to experience this 'stranger in the strange' effect, the boy had refused to check before getting off at the stop.

"Um.."

The voice behind him was new. But somehow, it wasn't unsure or asking for permission to speak to him. Mibuchi turned to the voice, which happened to be a girl. Just as he confirmed that he had never seen her before, Tsubaki had smiled.

The smile was way too bright to give to a stranger. Even if the stranger was, in this case a handsome one.

"Yes? Do you need help?"

Mibuchi had always been a courteous one, especially to women.

"Me? Not me Mibuchi-kun. I saw you looking completely lost and wanted to see if you needed any help with something."

If he felt surprise that she already knew his name, he didn't have a chance to show it as he realized he was wearing a blazer with his name on it.

"Oh.. Well no. I'm lost but I don't need any help. Thank you for your concern."

He offered a smile to the girl before turning away because her introductory smile had, in his opinion called for it. Not that he was compensating – she simply seemed to evoke the smile out of him.

"Uh.. Mibuchi-kun.. Aren't you supposed to be getting on the train back to school?"

He turned with a narrowed gaze this time. This information could _not_ have come from his blazer.

"What was that? How do you know that? Are you some kind of a stalker?"

Mibuchi looked stern on the outside as he faced Tsubaki. But his inside was in a whole other world. His heart soared in excitement at the sight of a girl who was stalking him. This was finally turning into an adventure as a stranger he assumed was only making a harmless enquiry was, in real a stalker. _How bad was her obsession? Was she exclusive only for him?_ Or was she simply a stalker who stalked just about anyone. He hoped not. He prayed not. This. Was. Adventure.

"Lets get on the train and talk, shall we? You have a meeting with the basketball club, remember?"

Tsubaki's words made the boy almost hyperventilate. Now, he was absolutely sure! She had information about him – current and most recent! So she was very good and talented at what she did. He felt extremely fortunate.

She had read his mind as she cleared the matter to him.

"Mibuchi-kun. Please calm down. I'm not a stalker. I hate to break up your roll like this but I'm not a stalker."

The girl revealed the school uniform under her jacket. He hadn't given much notice to her skirt. Now that he did, he recognized Rakuzan High's school uniform.

"You have an unusual taste in adventure Mibuchi-kun. Exploring places, I get. But your chief interest is train stations only. And also, your interest in stalkers is just bordering on dangerous. Its just unusual."

Tsubaki shook her head as she completed her sentence. Mibuchi looked away in shock. He looked away because _nobody_ knew about his interest in stalkers. Nobody. It was something he had kept strictly to himself and he had his reasons for having it. He knew there wasn't a way anyone could understand if he explained. Which is why he never tried.

"You don't have to look away, Mibuchi-kun."

When he turned to look her in the eye, he found her staring. He called it staring because she barely blinked. Her scarlet eyes were too clear and unhooded.

"Who are you?" He finally managed to question her.

"I'm Tsubaki Akahana of class 1-A, Rakuzan High. Nice to meet you!"

He would have responded to the delight in her face and tone if he weren't too occupied with the fact that she knew. He couldn't even call her a stalker for getting the information by asking around because there was nobody to ask and get to know from.

"How do you know... me?"

"Mibuchi-kun! You're looking away while talking to me because I called your interest unusual. I don't think its that unusual to have a curiosity in people. I observe people all the time. That's how I saw you and knew you were lost. That's how I saw the note hanging off your bag pack and knew you have a meeting. Stalkers are people too and you like all sorts of people. Train stations have lots of people who are all kinds of people and they're here all the time. That's why you like train stations. That's not unusual. That's curiosity. And curiosity isn't a bad thing or a weird thing. Its human nature and you possess a lot of it in this area. That's all. Now, will you please not look away?"

She drew a deep breath as Mibuchi stared at her. He took his time to comprehend everything. She had worded the exact explanation he never voiced to anyone. It was the exact thing he told himself each time he got off in a station and passed through hundreds of pairs of eyes.

"Yeah.. I do get curious."

Tsubaki smiled. Because this time, he didn't avert his gaze.

* * *

He had reached school in time that day to attend the club meeting. It was the day the captain for the basketball team had been named. The event was most unusual. Also unsettling as he stood beside the red haired first year as the Vice Captain. He could feel the looks of the rest of the players. However, the boy beside him remained cool throughout it.

Mibuchi had met the girl later in the day. He didn't have to tell her as she opened up the conversation by herself.

Mibuchi observed that she did want to discuss the incident but only did so after congratulating him for becoming the vice captain.

"So? Welcomed the new captain well?"

He assumed the entire school knew as it was no secret for her to not know.

"Oh it went well."

One meeting, a single conversation was all they had been through. Yet, he felt a strange sense in him that told him he could speak his mind.

"It may have been a surprise to everyone else but its really the right choice."

The boy felt odd. He had just told her that it had gone well. No reason to doubt his sentence. Still, she broke the string off and spoke about the thing on his mind.

"We'll just have to see about that." He wanted to leave it at that.

"I see where you are uncertain. The Generation of Miracles and the Uncrowned Kings are not the same. That is what you're thinking."

Once again, the girl was spot on. But it wasn't complete.

"No. Middle school is different from Rakuzan."

He remembered the smile she had given to him at the time. It wasn't the too big, bright one she had given him all day. This was softer and he found himself leaning in to find out the reason behind it.

He hadn't believed in her reason that day. He had simply waved her off and walked away.

* * *

By the end of that week, Tsubaki had befriended his two other teammates as well. Hayama and Nebuya had looked right past her weirdness.

Of course it was weirdness. In fact, Mibuchi only restrained from calling her a stalker because of the friendship that had developed between them. It was only because he was sure she meant well.

It was still weird. The girl knew them. She knew everything about them. All the trivia, tendencies.. Even things they hadn't observed about themselves.

But since she befriended all of them, the information she had was more natural. Not at all unusual. Or that is what Mibuchi kept telling himself.

As time passed with Akashi as the captain, all of them came to see what Tsubaki had meant by her statement.

"Akashi-kun isn't ex-captain of the GoM or the present captain of Rakuzan's team. Akashi-kun is an Emperor – has been so all his life."

* * *

 _ **A/N : So Mibuchi-kun has a fascination for stalkers. I just made an extrapolation from the trivia :D**_

 _ **So plainly beautiful, Mibuchi is my favourite player from Rakuzan ;)**_

 _ **I mean apart from Sei-chan, of course. Those of you who love Mibuchi like I do (or more than me - - - impossible, but surprise me anyway) or if you like another Emperor then let me know who and why! :)**_

 _ **In any case, Read and Review!**_

 _ **Ciao :D**_


	7. 6 - Infectious

**Chapter 6 - Infectious**

Reo Mibuchi. Kotaro Hayama. Eikichi Nebuya.

The three Uncrowned Kings had surely received their crowns upon entering Rakuzan High. They were no longer kings who didn't get the crowns they desired and deserved. They were Emperors now. But the fact that their captain happened to be that certain red-head was one they could not swallow. Not only was it a prick in their pride that they had to follow the words of a first year, it was more. To put the boy from the GoM to captain three Uncrowned Kings was asking for discontentment between the team. If they had not spent a year with their coach and learnt better than to be simple minded players, they would have acted rashly indeed. The outcome would have definitely had lasting effects.

Player value was something obvious. But that was something they all possessed. It was not sufficient to silence all the opposing thoughts in their mind.

"Practice match today."

Tsubaki thrust a sheet into the hands of her World History teacher at the end of class. The man sighed at the girl's excitement as he glanced at the line-up she had prepared.

"Are you suggesting a trampling of the rest of the team? Have you never heard of the term balance? You want to have the three and Akashi play together in one team? They will be doing that in the tournaments, you know?"

His voice held patience to deal with the girl he could not turn down no matter how much he tried. She had burst in to fill out the form to become the team's manager before the club had even announced the date for first year tryouts.

Coach Shirogane had explained the circumstances to her. Rakuzan High was not every other school. It held tradition and many other values to allow a first year girl to become the manager of the team that was famous to win every single tournament throughout the year each year. But the girl remained relentless in her efforts. She had convinced him to allow her a trial period until the time they hired a full time professional to fill the position that was presently unoccupied.

Assuming she would not have any work to do anyway, he had given in. He did not want to turn down the first request made by a female student. Especially not the year's scholarship student who had given him no reason to completely reject the proposal.

"Yes, I did notice and plan it that way."

She beamed in pride as if she had made the best decision anyone could possibly make. Shirogane hesitated. It was a first in his career for a girl who did not play to make such a request. But every once in few years he came across the scholarship students in Rakuzan High. They were known to be odd. But he hadn't expected the odd to fall into his plate this early in the year. As he opened his mouth to reject her outrageous proposal, Tsubaki picked up the sheet to leave for her next class.

"I've already put it up on the notice board. You'll find them in the gym ready to go. Don't forget to show up."

Shirogane set his lips in a thin line. His face wore a grim expression. He had expected difficult behavior from a student from Teiko. It just happened that Seijuro Akashi was not the one displaying difficult behavior.

He decided he would show up without forgetting. Not to play witness to the game he hadn't authorized. He would be teaching a thing or two after all.

Shirogane checked his watch and knew he was on schedule. It would have been a simple matter to have cancelled the match. But he realized it might as well happen. If he worried too much about the rest of the team's spirit, he wouldn't have the kind of team that he prided Rakuzan to be.

Play they will, he had decided.

* * *

He opened the door to the more subdued than usual atmosphere of the gym. His eyes immediately fell to the scoreboard and no surprise enveloped him. Students made way for him but did so only in the last moment as they were all too involved in the game that went on.

The atmosphere struck as odd to the coach as the scores indicated the trampling that was occurring on the court.

59-12.

He expected nothing different but as he stepped closer, the realization dawned upon him.

Mibuchi caught the ball to make a simple jump shot. But the movement of him catching the ball came naturally along with his jump. Catching and jumping occurred simultaneously as one and the basic shot seemed finer because of that element.

Nebuya displayed the same quality as his hands closed around the ball before jumping for an explosive dunk. The movement of catching and turning to jump were one.

Hayama's dribble was the lowest level – three fingers were all he used. Nevertheless, he moved smoothly through a gap that was almost too perfect for him so slip through and go for a layup.

Shirogane knew it was the finest layup that came from the hours of practice he had set them to from the day they had begun playing for Rakuzan. Only later did his mind touch upon the newest player he had also named captain of the team who was getting this game going the way it was.

As the whistle sounded to indicate the end, he saw the victorious expressions on the faces of the three people he had expected to protest his decision.

"I don't think they hate their captain as much anymore."

The girl had appeared beside him to grin triumphantly at the sight she had planned. Shirogane couldn't disagree either. Protest, they may have launched, he knew none of the players cared as much to really become the captain of the team. Each was too selfish to care about the other's play. His was the team that played on their best level and out came a team when all their bests were pooled in. He had decided to let them come to this realization on their own time as to why they should be led by a freshman. But the girl beside him had sped things up with one afterschool game.

"The position is yours until the next time you schedule a game without my permission." He asserted that much in a clear tone to the girl.

Tsubaki smiled before bowing before him. He had made two exceptions for the team in one year. Only both of them were well thought.

* * *

"Did you see that?! I was unstoppable throughout!"

Hayama's excitement knew no bounds as he walked between two people who had been just as unstoppable in the game they had just played.

"Calm down, will you? It was just a practice game. We were too strong to begin with. It was so expected that the coach only showed up for the last two minutes. I don't see why the coach even planned this sort of thing. It must have been hard on the others as this is the first game of the year." Mibuchi's voice reasoned with the blonde's shouts of victory declarations.

"Sure you're saying all that but even you're glowing as you do, right?" Nebuya pointed it out shamelessly for Mibuchi to admit. He was indeed glowing bright from the game.

Hayama spotted the glint of red that he instantly recognized as Akashi and bounded to him.

"….Akashi!"

Mibuchi shook his head at their exchange. Just as he had predicted, Hayama was discussing the entire game with reference to each second of his play. He noticed the boy's distant but evident attention to Hayama. Courteous and to the point. But far from the kind of connection Hayama was talking about.

Akashi listened to Hayama's highlights of the game with a few polite nods here and there before informing him that he did indeed look forward to practice the next day. He then mentioned the meeting he had to drop by before leaving school and excused himself.

"Don't you think you scared him off?" Mibuchi asked as Hayama made his way to the two joined by Tsubaki who grinned at him.

"Scared him off? What are you talking about Sis?"

He merely shrugged as he did not want to explain it all to Hayama who wouldn't understand a word of it. He also knew that Hayama's ADHD tendencies would make him forget all about it before turning to Tsubaki. She would listen to the whole thing and even offer appropriate comments. But Mibuchi knew that her willingness did not mean she was very keen to put it first on her list.

"How about a victory snack?"

He smiled coquettishly at her tactics to distract two muscle heads in one sentence to which she smiled sweetly and began talking about how fine his form had been. He found himself getting excited on his own before beginning to talk of the 'Oblivion' or 'Void' as he called it and found her attention most pleasing.

Only at the end of the day did she announce her own reason for joining them on their victory snack and revealed her making it as the team's manager.

They congratulated her warmly before Nebuya brought up a nonexistent requirement for the manager's weight to qualify. His two fingers of each hand curled around the balls of her shoulder to pick her up and let her hang like laundry.

The girl pretended to act helpless for a while before giving up. She folded her hands as if in total comfort to provoke the huge boy. Not used to handling provocation in any other way, he moved to react and made the girl squeal in surprise.

Mibuchi intervened and pointed out that they were dealing with a girl. Even if they weren't being watched, he stated the necessary gentlemanly display they owed as men. His mother hen-like words and expression made Nebuya drop her carefully and even look a bit apologetic. But the girl's delightful laughter followed in an unrestrained manner that infected the other boy who had watched in amused silence first.

Hayama moved to pick the girl up as well but the lack of Nebuya's giant form had him throw her on his shoulder instead. He proclaimed the girl's weightlessness for Mibuchi to check as well before tossing her into his arms. His quick instincts made him catch her easily and he too agreed. The girl did weigh close to nothing.

As the four continued to laugh, Mibuchi broke himself for a second to ask.

"Why are we picking her up and laughing this hard?"

They noticed the darkness that had descended upon them with the light of day that had disappeared without their notice. Now that the three looked at it, it was very odd and awkward too.

Tsubaki jumped out of Mibuchi's hold and straightened herself before answering.

"Because we're all unreasonably happy."

And the three boys had to admit the infectious liking they were beginning to have for the girl in front of them.

* * *

 _ **A/N : Yay! So as silly as it looks I'm pretty sure the Uncrowned kings do have this side to them. Of course they goof around and if they find a girl to share it with, they will.**_

 _ **Rakuzan loves my girl :D**_

 _ **Also, coming up next : AKASHI ENTERS!**_

 _ **But I have to say, there won't be an update next week because I'm giving y'all a Christmas present that's even better ;)**_


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